Becoming a good surfer requires a combination of natural ability, skill and practice and learning to make continual adjustments while standing on a longitudinally oriented surfboard as it skims forward across a wave, such that while the surfer leans and makes adjustments to carve out the proper path, he or she can remain balanced and be propelled forward at just the right velocity and angle. In this respect, surfing requires the surfer to keep the board in a constantly changing equilibrium state, while maintaining constant awareness of his or her position relative to the board, and the board's position relative to the wave, wherein the board and surfer are synchronized together while moving forward in various angles and directions, and performing maneuvers using gravity and the sloped surface of the moving wave.
Because of the need to synchronize these movements carefully, it is important that the wave the board travels on is of sufficient size, shape and quality to enable the surfer to generate enough speed and use the ramps, transitions, sections and hollow tubes that are created on the wave to perform various tricks and maneuvers thereon. Moreover, the wave surface that the board travels on, and cuts across, must be sufficiently smooth and free of turbulence and discontinuities, to allow the surfer to perform the desired maneuvers, wherein, if there are any irregularities in the wave's structure, such as ridges, angles, ripples, vortices, chops, etc., the wave will be difficult to maneuver across and stay balanced on. And based on the size of a standard surfboard, including its overall width, length and thickness, it is critical that the smooth portion of the wave be sufficiently large/wide enough such that the board can be fully supported by the wave structure, wherein, as the board skims and maneuvers across the wave, the surfer is then able to make the necessary adjustments to stay balanced and move forward while performing maneuvers of interest. If there is too much turbulence, for example, or if the smooth portion of the wave is not large/wide enough, the board can be diverted, or misdirected, which can force the surfer to have to make quick compensating adjustments, which can increase the chance that a wipe out can occur.
Due to the size of a standard surfboard, which is typically about 18 to 20 inches (40 cm to 50 cm) wide, and about 2 to 3 inches (5 cm-7 cm) thick, and about 70 to 120 inches (2 to 3 meters) long, as well as its shape, which can have a taper or curve to facilitate carving, it is desirable that the smooth portion of the wave be wide enough to support this width as well as the board's varied movements. For example, if there are large ripples, bumps or chops that are spaced apart every 12 to 24 inches (30 to 60 cm) or so, then, as the board encounters these formations, the surfer will have to use a more conservative (minimal maneuver) stance, with knees bent (to act as shock absorbers), and make quick adjustments, to keep the board on its proper path and avoid a wipeout, as the surfer travels forward. Indeed, one of the significant drawbacks to surfing on a low quality wave is that the board itself can be undesirably diverted, such as, for example, when the tip of the board enters into a chop, in which case, the nose of the board can dive into the water, which, in surf speak, is known as ‘pearling’, and will most often result in a wipe out.
In the past, because there are only a few places in the world where quality surfable waves are created naturally, it has been necessary for surfers to travel great distances to surf. And oftentimes, moments when ideal weather conditions exist can be relatively rare, thereby making it difficult for surfers to pursue their sport and catch a great wave. And given the lack of available resources most surfers have, greater emphasis has been placed on creating man-made waves using wave pools.
Wave pools are man-made bodies of water in which waves are created to simulate waves in an ocean. A wave pool typically has a wave generating device at one end and an artificial sloped “beach” located at the other end, wherein the wave generating device creates disturbances in the water that produce waves such as periodic waves that travel from one end to the other. The floor of the shoreline is preferably sloped upward so that as the waves approach, the floor causes the waves to change shape and “break” onto the beach.
One of the shortcomings of traditional wave pools is that they are typically large and therefore require significant land and therefore are relatively expensive to build. Also, to produce large surfable waves, not only does the pool have to be large, but the wave generators themselves have to be bigger and more powerful to push more water to create the desired surfable waves. Some wave pools have been built with multiple wave generators positioned side by side along the deep end, which are capable of being activated at the same time to produce a single wave that travels from the deep end to the shallow end. Typically, in such case, each wave generator is activated at the same time to simultaneously create a single resultant wave that progresses across the pool and breaks.
In Cohen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,145, a wave generating facility having an angled reef for producing plunging type waves is shown, wherein multiple wave generators are provided at an oblique angle along the offshore side of the reef to generate multiple waves in sequence, wherein the waves are said merge together to form a single wave that peels laterally along the reef. In Cohen, the wave generators are staggered and positioned at an oblique angle relative to the front or crest of the moving waves, and likewise, the reef is extended along the same oblique angle, such that, as the waves progress, they will peel and break laterally across the reef.
One deficiency of Cohen, however, is that the wave generators are situated in open water with no provisions being made for how the wave segments will form and merge together to form a single resultant wave. Because the wave generators face the open water, and the multiple wave segments that they produce have to merge together in the open pool, natural forces and disturbances can occur along the convergence zones, including undesirable eddies and flow sheers, which can prohibit the formation of a smooth surfable wave. What Cohen fails to take into account is that when these wave segments converge and disturbances occur, these motions will negatively impact the near-term formation of an ensuing wave, wherein any wave that follows (such as within an approximate 45 second time frame) will encounter considerable instabilities, e.g., ripples, chops and vortices, etc., that are unstable and therefore unsuitable for surfing. Furthermore, the energy consumed by generating such disturbances can reduce the overall size, height and amplitude of the desired waves.
In Leigh, U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,724, a method and apparatus for generating artificial waves in a body of water is shown, wherein multiple wave generators for producing individual waves that merge together are shown. According to Leigh, each wave generator is provided with a pair of angled walls extending forward, to cause the waves to elongate as they travel forward, so that once the waves merge together, they create a single resultant wave with an elongated front that is longer than the width of the wave generators combined. By substantially angling the walls in front of each wave generator, the waves will necessarily spread and elongate as they travel forward, which, according to Leigh, allows for the waves that are created to be substantially elongated, thus making it possible to create longer waves using fewer and shorter wave generators, which according to Leigh, “drastically” reduces the “cost, complexity, and power requirements” of the facility. According to Leigh, the objective achieved is that by angling the walls outward to what appears to be 60 to 70 degrees, fewer wave generators are needed to create the same length of wave along the beach.
One serious disadvantage of Leigh, however, is that because the walls are angled to such a degree, the waves will spread out and elongate unduly, creating a significant lateral or down-the-line velocity component (i.e., in a direction down-the-line along the wave crest) as each wave travels forward, wherein the waves will eventually arc radially outward and collide against each other with force, rather than merge together smoothly to form a uniform resultant wave. That is, as the waves travel forward, not only will they travel in a substantial arc motion, i.e., radially outward, but they will also widen and elongate as they follow along the angle of the walls, wherein a lateral down-line velocity vector will be created such that when adjacent waves converge together, they will inevitably collide against each other with significant force and effect, which can create additional turbulence that can prevent the formation of smooth surfable waves.
Likewise, the elongation of the waves created by Leigh will, by virtue of the principles of energy conservation, cause the waves to drop significantly in height/amplitude as they travel forward. That is, by virtue of the waves elongating, the energy of the wave will have to be spread out along a greater distance, which necessarily decreases the height of the waves. Also, the extra turbulence and disturbance caused by the waves interfering with and colliding against each other will cause the waves to redirect energy, thereby further contributing to a reduction in wave height and amplitude. Accordingly, not only will the height/amplitude of the waves be reduced over time, but additional energy will be required to create the same size resultant wave.
For the above reasons, a need exists to design and build a wave pool using a plurality of wave generators positioned side by side along the deep end thereof to produce wave segments that merge together properly as they travel forward to create a single wave that is sufficiently smooth for surfing, and that overcomes the deficiencies of previous wave pool designs, before they peel and break along the shore.